


Maera

by senalishia



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Human-pokemon hybrid, Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-16 06:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11822703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/senalishia/pseuds/senalishia
Summary: Team Rocket, masters of evil science, create a human-pokemon chimera. Once she escapes the horrors of their lab, she must learn how to live among pokemon and among humans.





	1. Chapter 1: White Rooms and Corridors

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set between _Pokemon: The First Movie_ and _Mewtwo Returns_. It is compliant with anime canon as far as I can determine, and any pokemon moves and other details should be in line with game canon as well. (If I messed this up at all, feel free to let me know!)

> #### November 19, 19XX
> 
> ...At 13:22 Patient B gave birth to an infant weighing 3.1 kg and measuring 46.2 cm in length, tentatively designated female, hereafter known as Subject HPC-001-231. Evidence of successful chimerism was immediately apparent from a visual inspection alone, with pokémon gene expression especially noticeable on the upper back and shoulders (see figures A, B, C, D)... Patient B was compensated and released in accordance with the terms previously agreed to, with only minor resistance to the exit procedure...
> 
> #### April 11, 19YY
> 
> ...Physically, she appears to be thriving. Her final adult measurements, and when she might reach them, are uncertain; however, her rate of growth seems to be in general faster than that of a human, though slower than that of the pokémon source species. She has mastered most of the gross- and fine-motor skills that would be expected in a human child of a comparable age, insofar as her unique anatomy allows (see Appendix 1)... The level of mental development that HPC-001-231 has attained has been more difficult to determine. Her mouth and larynx structure deviate in a number of ways from that of a normal human (see figure J); however, a thorough anatomical examination leads us to believe she should have the ability to produce most human speech sounds. Yet her speech ability seems to be arrested at the babbling stage, comparable to a 6-month old human infant. Although she cannot speak, she does show the ability to follow simple spoken commands,. We administered a modified version of the Larch-Pine Abstract Reasoning Index (see appendix 2), and her score of 4 indicates…
> 
> #### June 24, 19YZ
> 
> ...as the growth curve in figure M indicates, HPC-001-231 has likely reached her final height. Her ability to speak has shown minimal improvement. We are now almost certain she has some ability to understand the speech of pokémon, but if she cannot communicate that meaning to humans, the ability is useless to us. I have once again suggested certain speech therapy techniques that I believe could be extremely effective; however, this request has been denied in favor of more tests of physical abilities and attributes…

The young man in the white coat, the nice looking one with the friendly smile, made words and gestures that meant to come with him, clipped a short leash to her collar, and led her down the bright, white hallway. The man spoke to her in a cheerful tone as they walked, but it didn’t counteract the tension she felt. Nothing good ever happened when she left her room. They only let her out when they wanted to poke sharp things into her arm, or make her run until she was exhausted, or strap her down so she couldn’t move and stick her in a loud, scary machine. She was used to it by now, though, so she didn’t bother to fight it. The sooner they got it over with, the sooner she could go back to her room. There wasn’t much to do there, but at least she was left alone.

The room she was led to today had another white-coated person waiting for her, the stern lady with the covers on her eyes. A lot of the other people here at least tried to be nice to her, even when they hurt her, but this one never did. Today would probably be extra bad. Yet she saw the stern lady was holding one of those red and white balls that make pokémon. She liked pokémon, and she hadn’t gotten to see one in a while. She felt a little bit excited. She supposed some good things did sometimes happen to her when she left her room. 

The nice young man led her to a spot in the middle of the room and indicated that she should stay there, unclipped the leash, then moved back to stand at the edge of the room next to the stern lady. The stern lady threw her ball, and it emitted a pale blue light that formed into a little squirtle. While being carefully to stay exactly where she had been told to, she crouched down and said hello to the squirtle. The squirtle looked surprised at first, but then enthusiastically said hello back.

The young man told her she’d talked to the squirtle long enough, and she immediately stood back up and closed her mouth. She knew what would happen if she didn’t do what she was told the first time. 

The stern lady talked to the young man for a bit, then gave an order to the squirtle. A stream of bubbles erupted from the pokémon’s mouth, striking her directly in the abdomen with a surprising amount of force. Despite her best effort to stay in place as she’d been instructed, she took a step back to balance herself against the push of the bubbles. Finally the onslaught ceased. The loose fabric covering she wore and the skin beneath it were both soaked, but despite the intensity of the experience, she felt unhurt.

The young man praised her and held up something in his hand, a little brown nugget that smelled like food. She opened her mouth and allowed him to put the thing in it. It was delicious! They’d rewarded her for good behavior with food before but nothing like this. This was great! Maybe that stern lady wasn’t so bad after all.

The two of them walked over to her and the lady opened up her clothes to look at the place where the squirtle had hit her. They poked her in that spot, but she did her best to show them that she was all right and it didn’t hurt. The young man scratched something onto the piece of paper on the clipboard he held, then moved back to the side of the room.

They repeated the whole sequence of events two more times--the squirtle blasted her with bubbles, she took the hit right to the middle, then she got her reward and they checked her over. Although she’d been able to endure the first hit easily, by the third time she started to get kind of sore. After they examined her, the young man pulled a purple bottle out of his coat pocket and sprayed it on her stomach. She felt a little better.

Next, the stern-but-kind-of-fun lady turned the squirtle back into blue light and pulled out a different ball. This one produced a pokémon she hadn't seen before. It had four legs and a short snout and was covered all over in orange and black fur. 

She glanced hesitantly over at the young man, then said hello to this pokémon too, and asked what it was called. Growlithe, it said, but it seemed wary. She readied herself without having to be asked.

Before doing anything, the man and the lady talked back and forth for a bit. The lady seemed annoyed. Finally, the man seemed to reluctantly agree with her. The lady called to her to get her attention. Then she gave her growlithe a command.

A gout of fire roared from the pokémon’s mouth. She couldn't help it, she flinched in fear, turning to the side, squeezing her eyes shut and throwing up her arm to protect her face. It didn't help, really, the searing heat just hit everything that was still exposed.

She screamed and collapsed to her knees. It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt. They'd never hurt her like this before. The young man said something and then he was there next to her. He sprayed something on her and she started to hurt less. But even as the pain subsided, the memory of it remained. He spoke to her softly and gave her another treat. The flavor hadn’t changed, but she enjoyed it a lot less.

The stern lady was angry--the young man had done something wrong. The young man was angry back at her. She thought that maybe he didn't like it, that she was hurt. He helped her stand up while continuing to argue with the stern lady. Eventually, the stern lady said something that made him scowl, and he stopped talking. He turned to her, took her by the hands, and told her very seriously that she must stand where she was told and not move, that she needed to be strong. She tried to show on her face how scared she was, but he just walked back to his place at the side of the room.

Okay, be strong. She had been strong against the squirtle, right? It had barely hurt her at all. She faced the Growlithe, hands sweating. She thought fleetingly about asking the pokémon not to hurt her, but she’d never met a pokémon that didn't obey every command a human gave it. Might as well ask the needles or the machines not to hurt her. She stood as still as she could as the stern lady once again gave the command. She only flinched at the last moment, covering her face with one hand and taking the fire blast directly to the abdomen like she had with the bubbles before.

This time was worse. She crumpled to the floor and curled around her injured midsection. She tried to scream but felt like she couldn't even breath. Tears streamed down her face. Hurt hurt hurt. She heard the stern lady bark an order to the young man. He knelt down next to her and gently but firmly placed pressure on her shoulders and knees so she would straighten out her body. Oh--the spray, right? He would spray her and she would feel better. But instead, he just pushed her clothing aside and ran his fingers lightly over her burned skin. Even that slight tough caused her to flinch away in pain. He said something to the stern lady that didn’t sound happy, the lady answered him, and then finally he sprayed her and the agony lessened. She trembled all over as the young man helped her sit up and offered her a treat. She almost didn’t want it anymore, but she took it anyway and the burst of sweetness made her feel a very, very tiny little bit better.

Finally, she got to her feet, still shaking. The stern lady spoke, and she understood some of what was said. One more time. They wanted her to do it again? She looked to the young man for help. He glared at the lady and seemed about to say something, but a sharp look from the stern lady was sufficient to keep him from opening his mouth. So once again he faced her and, his own voice trembling a little, told her to stand there and hold still. She opened and closed her mouth as he crossed to the side of the room. She had never before wanted so desperately to be able to communicate the way the others did, as easily as she could talk to pokémon. When they talked, she sometimes knew what they meant, but that was as much from what their faces and bodies did as what came out of their mouths. As soon as they stopped speaking, she had a hard time remembering exactly what sounds they had made, and she could never figure out how to get her mouth to make the same sounds. But if she could just force herself, right now, maybe they would know. She did not want to do this again.

She couldn't do it, not even under the threat of extreme pain. Instead, she crouched down, lowered her head, and wrapped her arms tightly around her knees. At least if the Growlithe burned her again it wouldn't hurt as much.

The stern lady talked, sounding annoyed again. Because she wouldn't stand up, she thought. She gripped her knees harder. The young man crouched down next to her and tried to cajole her into standing back up. She didn't respond. The young man pled with the stern lady, but the stern lady insisted. One more time. The young man stroked her hair and promised her things but he was not going to make her face that Growlithe straight on again.

Finally he just asked her to look at him. She reluctantly did that. Out of his other pocket he pulled a white object a little bigger than his hand that she instantly recognized. No, no, not the shocker, they hadn't used that on her in forever because she always did what they said, how could she have forgotten to always do what they said? She'd automatically loosened her arms and started to stand up before she realized what she was doing. Was the shocker really going to be any worse than the fire? She honestly didn’t know. She crouched back down and tried to think. The man and the lady were arguing again. The fire hurt, hurt bad, she didn't want to face it again, but she could imagine herself getting through it and then they'd spray her and she'd be better. But the shocker, no, she couldn’t, she would never--

SNAP. The jolt ran through every muscle in her body and for an instant none of her senses worked. She stared at the young man in terror. He begged her to stand up.

She wasn't choosing between the fire and the shocker. If she refused, they would just shock her again and again until she obeyed.

She got to her feet. She did what they wanted. This time, she didn't even blink until the force and the pain knocked her over again. The young man checked her and sprayed her and gave her a treat, and this time she enjoyed it immensely just to spite them. Finally, she was led back to her room and left alone.

She lay on the pile of soft cushions in the corner of her room, staring at the wall in front of her. Eventually she extended the vines that sprouted from her back so they hung in front of her face and began forming them into simple shapes--circle, square, triangle. It was a simple exercise she performed to amuse herself during long stretches of time when no one came to her room.

Before today, she had thought that some of the people she saw every day were nice, and some were mean. Some talked to her and smiled and acted friendly, and some were brusque and said nothing unless they wanted something from her. But actually, there were just people who didn't care if she got hurt, and people who acted like they cared, but didn't do anything to stop it. Nobody was actually nice. Nobody actually wanted to help her.

Eventually somebody came by to deliver her next meal. She went over and ate out of habit even though she wasn’t very hungry.

After she had slept and woken and eaten again, another person with a white coat showed up at her door to take her somewhere. She trusted this woman's smile even less than she had the young man’s before. Dread twisted in the pit of her stomach. She set her face in a determined expression. Showing them how afraid she was hadn't helped. Whatever they did to her this time, she could act strong. She wanted to be strong. 

Her new attitude kept her going through the next day's horrors, which were worse than the day before. The stern lady was there again, and made her stand up to all the same attacks from the squirtle and growlithe, but facing away from them so they hit the leaves and vines on her back. She barely felt the water attacks, but the fire actually made her black out for a second after the third attack, even with the soothing spray and treats offered between each one. The woman who had brought her to the room this time seemed to show even less concern for her pain than the young man had, limiting herself to a small frown when the damage was very bad. 

When they delivered her back to her room afterward, she collapsed onto her cushions, physically and emotionally exhausted. Being brave was hard. As soon as she was away from the constant torment, her resolve wavered and she wondered why she even tried. Surely if she showed them, if she could just somehow communicate how much she was suffering, they’d stop, wouldn't they? But no--that young man, he'd known, had tried to stop it, but hadn't succeeded. That stern-faced woman had some way of making the others do what she wanted, and for some reason the stern woman wanted to hurt her.

They'd sprayed her until her back didn't hurt anymore, but it still itched. She put her back against the wall and wriggled around, trying to get some relief.

She could only vaguely imagine a life that did not consist of sitting in her room, going where she was told, and submitting to whatever terrible thing they wanted to do to her. If she could do whatever she wanted, what would she do? Eat, sleep...maybe talk to pokémon, she liked that. A long time ago, she remembered, they'd taken her briefly to a place that was not all white walls and chemical smells, a place with plants everywhere and a thousand interesting sights and scents, where she could feel the air move, and could look up and up and up until everything turned blue. Maybe she would try to figure out how to go there again.

The next several times she left her room, the stern lady almost always had a new pokémon come out of the ball, and she was exposed, it seemed, to every type of damage a pokémon could do to her. Some attacks bruised or cut her, some chilled her until her muscles cramped, some made her feel sick to her stomach or gave her trouble breathing, and some even left her dizzy and made it hard to think. Sometimes they attacked her from the front, sometimes the back. There seemed to be so many different ways of hurting her that she didn't even have time to get used to one, to find a way to cope, before something new surprised her. A few of the things they tried actually weren't too hard to deal with, much like the squirtle she had faced the first time. Many were tough, but bearable. And some were as agonizing as the fire had been. They sprayed her with the healing stuff whenever she needed it, but she soon figured out that when they did that, it just meant that they could keep going at her without having to wait for her to recover. And they always gave her a treat after she successfully endured an attack. She accepted them grudgingly, but she would gladly have given them up if she never had to go into that room again.

She saw a rotation of three different people assisting the stern lady at different times, none of them the young man from the first time. They all spoke kindly and in soothing voices to her, and even seemed sympathetic to her pain at times, but not one of them put up any resistance to what was being done to her, and all were willing to brandish the shocker when her nerve failed her and she needed some “encouragement” to stand still and take the hit.

Sometimes as she lay in her room afterward, she fantasized about turning things around and making them get blasted with fire or ice while she watched. She didn't even want to hurt them as much as she had been hurt. She just wanted them to know what it was like, really know, so they wouldn't want to do it to her anymore. 

One time, her door opened, and it was the young man, who she hadn't seen for quite a while. He didn't lead her toward the room with the stern lady and the pokémon. She didn't entirely trust that, but she was hopeful. The room they entered was more like the ones they used when they wanted to look at different parts of her body, and sometimes stick her with needles. But if that was the worst of what awaited her, she would be grateful. 

The young man got her to understand that she ought to lay on her belly on the raised table in the middle of the room. He bent over her, pushed her clothing aside and began to gently handle the leaves on her back. One spot in the middle of her back had continued to itch off and on recently, regardless of what they were currently subjecting her to, and so she appreciated the young man's touch in that area. He coaxed her to uncoil her vines so he could look at them as well. Then he started probing one particular point on her back and that just made the itching worse. She felt almost like she had to sneeze, but out of her back. 

POOF. She felt something breaking open on her back and suddenly the air was filled with millions of tiny green specks. The young man staggered backward in surprise. He began coughing, and soon was bent over with his hands on his knees, then collapsed down on one knee. Within moments he lay on the floor, completely unmoving. 

At first she just stared down at him. What had happened? Did she do that? She didn't know what she should do. She always did what other people told her to; she wasn't used to making decisions by herself. At first she just waited for him to get back up. When time stretched on and he remained there on the ground, she gingerly let herself down off the table and crouched down next to him. First she just poked him with one finger. When that had no effect, she shook him a little more forcefully by the shoulder. That caused him to utter a loud groan, which startled her so much she immediately stood up and scuttled away. 

The young man pulled himself into a sitting position and massaged his forehead. Then he looked up at her and grinned hugely. He started talking excitedly as he got back up on his feet. She looked at him in confusion, not able to follow what he was saying. He grabbed a paper and started making marks on it, continuing to babble as he did so. Eventually he slowed down and, by speaking carefully and using gestures, got her to understand that the green dust had come from her back, and when he breathed it in, he went to sleep. She pointed to her nose and made an exaggerated breathing in gesture. After a moment of confusion, he seemed to understand that she had also breathed in the dust, but hadn't gone to sleep. He didn't seem to have an answer for that though, except that it was her dust, so she couldn't put herself to sleep. She smiled at him anyway. They were communicating with each other, almost like he was a pokémon. 

When he took her back to her room afterward, he took time and explained to her that she could try getting the dust to come out again while she was in her room, but when she was taken to other rooms, she shouldn't do it. She gave him an earnest look that she hoped communicated that she understood. 

So she spent her time outside her room weathering the torment as best she could, while inside her room she tested out what she could do with her newfound ability. She slept and woke several times before she even felt the itch again, and during that time she couldn't figure out how she had done it. Eventually the sensation started to return. She remembered that it had intensified when the young man had touched one exact spot on her back, so she reached behind her and tried to do the same thing herself. She wasn't very flexible, though, and the awkwardness of it made it hard to find what she was feeling for. She tried using her vines, but they didn't have a very strong sense of touch. Eventually, through a combination of hands, vine and wall, she started to feel that same almost-sneeze sensation. This time, she tried to control it, holding back for the space of several breaths before releasing. Green flecks rained down around her. She held out her hand and caught a few. They shimmered in the light. 

Although she had been warned by the young man, almost as soon as she discovered she had this power, she started imagining how she could use it against those who hurt her. Would it put a pokémon to sleep, too? Maybe, but the stern lady had lots of pokémon. She thought of how the young man had woken up after what was actually not too long a time, with only a little shaking from her. She could put the people to sleep before they could hurt her, but even if she knew how to get away, she could only get so far before they would wake up, and then what would they do? Probably they would be angry, use the shocker on her. If she was going to use this one power she had, she would need to wait for the right moment. She had no idea what that moment would look like, but she could wait for it. She was strong enough. 


	2. Outside

One day, two people showed up at the door to her room, the young man and another of the stern lady’s helpers. The young man had an odd expression on his face, a kind of tense smile that she couldn’t interpret. They led her down one hallway after another, not to the needle room or the pokémon room or the machine room, but in a direction she couldn't remember ever going before. Down hallways and through doors, they walked and walked. They went into a tiny room and just stood there while weird pressures made her stomach do flip-flops, then walked back out again into a room that looked different than the hallway they had just left. 

They went through one more door and then they were in that place. The one she remembered where she could smell everything and see so much farther than the far wall of a room. She began breathing more deeply just so she could get more of that beautiful smelling air. She was so overwhelmed she stopped walking for a moment just to take it all in. The stern lady's helper had to nudge her to get her going again. This place didn't have walls or a ceiling, but it did have a floor of sorts that extended out in front of them in a long, white strip with grass and plants on either side. 

As they walked along, the young man came up beside her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to look at him. Silently, he pointed at her back, then spread both his hands so his fingers travelled outward in all directions. 

It took her a moment to understand what he was trying to communicate, but when she thought she got his meaning, her eyes widened in shock. He wanted her to use the dust here, now. She looked around. Wide open space, room to get away. He was right. This was the chance she had been waiting for. 

She adjusted her pace until the three of them were grouped closely together. She felt a little bad, putting the young man to sleep as well when he obviously wanted to help her, but he knew what was about to happen, and if he wasn’t going to get out of the way then she just had to trust that he was okay with it. 

She focused her attention on the node in the middle of her back. She’d always done this with her clothes off in her room before--they didn’t much care whether she wore the loose covering when she was alone, but when she left her room they always made her wear it unless they wanted to look at her body. She didn’t know how it would work with her back covered, but she had to give it a try. She let the itching sensation build up and up, delaying for as long, then longer than she had ever tried to before, as they continued to walk. Finally when she could no longer stand it, she released the powder. It flew up her back and plumed out the top of her clothes, raining down in a green shower on the three of them. 

The young man stood there with a calm expression, allowing himself to breathe in the dust without any resistance. The other assistant looked surprised at first, confused, then scared. She began to cough, tried to wave the dust away with her hand, and ultimately collapsed down onto hands and knees. The young man deliberately laid himself down on the ground as his eyelids closed and the dust put him to sleep. The other one fought it off for a little longer but eventually seemed to succumb as well. 

What did she do now? She looked around. In one direction was the building they had come from. The section of floor continued on and in the distance she could see something, maybe another collection of small buildings off to one side of it. On the other side, the ground was thickly covered with a wide variety of plants as far as she could see. Buildings meant people who would probably catch her and make her come back. She stepped off the floor and into the plants, starting at a hesitant walk but soon speeding up to a full run. She didn’t know how long those two would stay asleep before they--well, at least one of them--got up and came after her. 

She pushed on through the grass and plants as fast as she could. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew what she was getting away from. Although they had occasionally made her run or otherwise heavily exert herself, most of her time lately she had spent sitting in her room or getting blasted by pokémon attacks. Her lungs and her legs soon began to burn. Unlike the smooth floors she was accustomed to, the ground here was covered in rocks and sharp bits of plants, and she had nothing to protect her feet. On the other hand, she had gotten very good at enduring pain, so she pushed herself through it and didn’t slow down. The only thing she had ever really wanted in her life was this--a chance to get away, to make her own decisions and decide she didn’t want to put up with the pain any more. So if she had to go through a little more pain to get there, she could. 

She heard shouting off to one side. Almost as far away as she could make out, she saw a man point at her and start moving toward her. She pivoted off the ground and started to head away from him. Although she tried to continue watching where she was going, she looked back over her shoulder every few seconds to keep an eye on her pursuer. She saw him stop, allowing her to put a bit more distance between them, and pull something, maybe out of a pocket. She caught a flash of blue light, and then there was a pokémon with the man, like a growlithe but much, much bigger. The two of them, man and pokémon, continued after her together. They were much faster than she was, she could see them getting bigger and bigger in her vision as they approached. 

She thought she had been running as fast as she could before, but she found it in her to go a little faster still. If that pokémon could spit fire like a growlithe, she could not let it get to her. She spent so much time looking back over her shoulder that she didn't notice what was in front of her until with a loud clang she bounced off of something that stopped her completely. In front of her stretched a mesh of metal with holes no bigger than her fist. She could see no end to it in either direction and it stood at least twice as high as she was tall. At first she just grabbed it and pushed at it uselessly in frustration. She heard the big growlithe barking at her, growing ever closer. She looked up at the top of the crisscrossing wires. There had been only a couple of times that they'd ever made her climb anything, but she thought she could make it to the top. She reached up as high as she could, gripped the wires, jammed her toes in a lower hole and boosted herself up. The wires dug into her already battered feet, but she ignored the pain and climbed. She extended her vines and used them to assist her. The sharp tips of wire scraped up her arms and legs as she went over the top, but she made it past them and down the other side. 

She looked through the wires at where she’d been. The man and his pokémon now moved sideways along the fence toward her. She backed up a few steps just to make sure she was out of the range of any gouts of fire, then turned and kept running. The ground had seemed totally covered in plants in the area she'd just run through, but on this side of the barrier there were even more. She dodged among huge trees with thick hanging vines. Occasionally she thought she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned her head to look she saw only a rustle of the bushes. She kept moving, ignoring the ache in her legs as much as she could, but eventually she slowed to a stagger as her muscles simply stopped doing what she told them to. She couldn't hear that pokémon barking at her anymore. She curled up under a tree and let herself rest. 

She didn't know how long she stayed there, she may even have dozed off for a while, but she was instantly alert when she heard human voices calling out somewhere among the trees. She rose to her feet, all her muscles stiff and achy. She should start running again, but it was hard to tell what direction the voices were coming from and she didn't know whether she would be running away from or toward the them. She looked up into the tree. With its dense foliage, she might blend right in if she could get up there. Climbing the tree was harder than climbing the wire barrier had been, but with the help of her vines and the tree’s rough bark she made it to the tree's lowest branches, after which the going was easier. She climbed until her hands became slick from the fear of being up so high. She found the smallest, highest branch she felt confident could support her weight, settled onto it and tried to stay very still. 

As she sat in the tree, she noticed that the light around here was not nearly as bright as it had been when she first ran away, or even when she got in among the thick plants and trees. The dome above her, once a bold light blue, was becoming darker blue, with red around the edges. Was that supposed to happen? 

A bird pokémon flapped in and landed on a branch near her. She remained quiet, but leaned forward to get a better look. She’d never seen something like this quite so close before. Its feathers looked so soft. She was so focused on it she almost didn't see the bug pokémon crawling up her branch until it was almost touching her hand. She’d seen those before--a spinarak. Their bites were incredibly painful. She restrained herself from screaming, barely, but jerked her hand back, startling the bird pokémon and causing it to flutter away. Then she froze and watched as the spinarak crawled undisturbed, right past her and down the trunk of the tree. 

Now that she had time to stop and rest, she noticed she felt kind of hungry. She didn't have any idea where she was going to get food. And it seemed to be getting colder and colder the darker it got. Had she made a mistake? Those people, they had hurt her, but they had also taken care of her. Should she have even left? Should she try to find her way back? 

Then, looking down, she saw two people and a growlithe, illuminated by the dimming light, pass under the very tree she sat in. The jolt of fear she felt made up her mind. She could not let them find her. Other pokémon lived out here, so there had to be a way to find food and warmth somehow. She would figure it out on her own. 

She waited for them to just pass by, but instead they stopped and started talking to each other. Would they see her if they looked up? She could use the sleep powder on them, it had probably been long enough for her to be able to do it again. Would she be able to get them from up here, though? The dust could get caught in the tree, or blow away. And if it didn’t work, it could attract their attention. But if she did nothing, they might find her anyway. She had to make a decision. She started focusing on that spot on her back, gathering energy into it, as she wondered what to do. 

Both people and their growlithe dropped suddenly to the ground. What? She looked around. Had she accidently released her powder without meaning to? No, she didn't see any of the green flecks anywhere, and she still felt the itch in her back. If she hadn't done it, what had happened? 

She stared down at the still figures. Nothing moved--in fact,she didn’t see movement from any pokémon in the area, either. Was something dangerous going on down there? Maybe, but this could also be her chance to get past the people looking for her. Should she risk it? Her only alternative was staying up in this tree, and she couldn’t stay here forever. Eventually she would need to--

_Come here_

She whipped her head wildly back and forth, trying to determine where that sound--no, it hadn't even been a sound, it hadn't come in through her ears, it had come from inside her head, like her thoughts but not her thoughts. Come here? Come where? 

_This way_

Now she felt...a sort of tugging on her mind, almost like following a smell. It led, she thought, farther along in the direction she had been going, though it was so dark at this point it was hard for her to tell. 

Should she go? Whatever had done this, whatever was calling out to her, could mean to harm rather than help her. She really had no way of knowing. 

_I wish to help. Please come to me._

It knew what she was thinking? It was like a second person had moved into her head. This was wrong, she didn’t like this. What kind of creature could do this? Her heart started racing again, and she squeezed her eyes shut, thinking as fiercely as she could, Out. Get OUT. 

_I apologize if you find my method of communication unpleasant, but it is the only one available to us. I merely wish to speak with you somewhere safer for both of us._

Now the thing was filling her head with thoughts almost too big and structured and complex to fit inside her. It talked like humans talked, except instead of letting the words flow over her and picking out what she could, now she had no choice but to comprehend exactly what it wanted her to, and it was just too much. Me, it’s me, I’m me, she thought as she pushed back and made sure there was still room for herself in herself. 

She felt the confusion in her thoughts lessen--it almost seemed like the other presence pulled away at her push, leaving her mind her own again. 

_Please come_ , it repeated simply. 

Well--she wasn't being hurt, was she? This being might have an unusual way of communicating, but so far it had only helped her, if it had been the one to put those people and their pokémon to sleep. 

_Indeed._

She grimaced at the reminder of how close the thing was to her own thoughts. It didn’t alter her decision though. Cautiously, she slipped back down out of the tree. She paused to check on the would be pursuers. They were asleep, right? She leaned in as close as she dared. They were still warm and breathing, at least. She didn’t like them, and she didn’t want them to catch her, but the fact that the thing hadn’t hurt them made her feel safer. She started heading in the direction she felt pulled to, stepping carefully through the thick plants in the dark. Just what could be waiting for her out there? 

_Yes. This way. Come here._

She walked and walked, the plants becoming even denser until she had to push them away with her hands. 

_Come. This way._

The sense of overcrowding in her head got stronger as she proceeded. Despite the voice’s continued encouragement, she still doubted whether this was entirely safe. But her hunger pangs were becoming sharp, and her feet were now so cold she almost couldn't feel what she was stepping on anymore. She needed help, and she knew the place behind her wanted her pain in return. Foreward, there was at least a chance of something better. 

Finally she stepped into a small clear patch among the plants and trees. In the middle of it stood something, something taller than her, with a head, two thin arms, two powerful legs and a thick tail, certainly not a human but maybe a pokémon. And eyes, two huge glowing eyes. 

At the sight of it, she panicked. That wasn't what she had expected, not what she was prepared for. She turned to run, but before she had gotten even a single step, she found herself totally unable to move. She struggled violently, or tried to, but although her muscles contracted, her body remained totally frozen. 

_Stay_

She’d experienced something like this before, a pokémon with glowing eyes that could control her body without even touching her. Kadabra, it had called itself, one of the pokémon the stern lady had ordered to attack her. It had only tossed her around, though, and it looked nothing like the one that had her now. 

_Don't fight. I only want to talk to you._

Let me go, she thought at it as forcefully as she could. 

_Will you stay? Will you answer my questions?_

It still hadn't hurt her, exactly, only stopped her. And she had some things she wanted to know, too. Yes, she thought at it, I will stay. 

She stumbled a bit as she abruptly regained control of her body. She turned to face the creature.

_What are you? A human, or a pokémon?_

That was what it wanted to know? Well, she didn’t really have an answer for that. She was herself. 

_You don't know?_

Having it right there in her thoughts like that still disturbed her, but she directed her own thoughts at it as best she could. Maybe I’m not a human or a pokémon. I don’t know. 

_How can you not know?_

Her fear was, in the absence of any immediate harm, rapidly giving way to annoyance. I just don't, she thought at it. No humans I've seen have light green skin, or hands with four thick fingers, or leaves and vines on their back, unless they hide them under their coats. But I've never seen a pokémon that looked like me either. This thing and its big, complex thoughts seemed to get her thinking the same way. She tried to slow her thoughts down. Have you? 

_I have not. Your thoughts are more organized than those of a pokémon, yet neither are they exactly like those of a human. Do you not know how you came to be?_

No, she didn't. From the earliest she could remember, her whole world had been her room and the rooms the white coated people took her to. It never occurred to her to ask...why she existed, instead of not existing? 

_Do you know your mother or your father?_

She didn't even know what those concepts referred to. People that made you? People that took care of you? She didn't know anything about that. 

_Incredible. Even I know that I was descended from Mew._

She had absolutely no idea what to make of that. She decided to ask some of her own questions. Why did you put those people and the growlithe to sleep when I was up in the tree, she wondered. 

_It seemed you did not want them to find you. I did not want them to find me either, and I wanted to talk to you._

I was afraid they would catch me and bring me back. 

_Back to where? That white room I saw?_

That's my room. In the other rooms they did things to me. 

_Did things? What kind of things?_

She felt somehow reluctant to show this stranger all the horrible things that had happened to her. They were her most intense, most emotional memories. The thing that made her the most who she was right now. She treasured them, wanted to keep them for herself. She didn’t want it to see her at her weakest or her strongest. 

But the very act of hiding those thoughts away brought them into her mind where the creature could see them. Once it had a glimpse, it wanted more, drawing the memories out into the front of her mind. Stop it! she thought to it. She remembered the fire, the cold, the poison. The needles, the machines. As it saw those things in her mind, it projected back anger at her. Her first, panicked thought was that it had seen all the times she had been disobedient, that it disapproved of her running away. 

_Those people, they did all that to you?_

It wasn't angry at her at all, she realized. It was angry at them. Its eyes began to glow even more intensely, and it actually moved for the first time, taking a step forward. She reflexively took a step back in response. 

_All the people with you wore white coats. What about those that chased after you. Were they the same?_

What an odd question. She never really noticed people’s clothes all that much. But no, now that she thought about it, they weren't wearing white coats like the people she usually saw, or just a loose covering like she did. Some other type of clothing. 

_Was there any sort of symbol on it? Please, try to remember._

The clothes were dark grey or black, fitting fairly tightly and covering all their arms and legs. She really hadn't noticed any sort of design, since she was being chased by them at the time. Wait--were the ones it had put to sleep still under the tree? Couldn't they just go look? 

_It is not safe to get too close to humans. But--I must know. If we act quickly, there should be little danger._

Immediately, it shot straight up, pulling her with it into the air. She vocally shrieked and flailed her arms and legs. 

_Don't be afraid._

She couldn't let go of her fear of being high in the air with nothing beneath her but the ground far below, just because it told her to. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hold still, though. In far less time than it had taken her to walk the same distance, they were back at the tree she had climbed. She opened her eyes again as her feet touched the cold ground. The creature approached the three still figures in front of them. Without touching them, it used its power to roll one of them over from their stomach to their back. Leaning in to look, she realized the clothes did have some sort of symbol on the front, a sort of loop with parts sticking out, all in red. 

_Team Rocket. It was them._

The people he was thinking of, that he referred to as ‘Team Rocket’, had all sorts of emotions wrapped up with them, anger, fear, revulsion, nothing good or happy. He knew these people? 

_They must have created you the same way they created me. They refuse to learn that life is not their plaything._

Created her? So many things had been hinted at in that thought. What did it mean, they had created her? 

It tried to show her, in her mind, what it had been talking about before, but she thought it seemed as reluctant to explain its past to her as she had been before. She saw air bubbling up through tubes full of liquid, people in white coats hunched over tables with odd looking tools in their hands. This creature, floating in one of those tubes, with wires attached to it. 

_They cloned me from Mews cells, but not content with creating life, they had to improve upon it as well. With you, they seemed to combine the traits of humans and pokémon. I thought that as a clone, I had no place in this world, but you…_

The pain in its thoughts scared her. She dreaded something she could not name. No place in this world? She had left the only place she had ever known. Was it saying she had nowhere else to go? She had never before wondered what she was, what it meant to be neither human nor pokémon, but if what this being said was true--

_Stop. I did not mean to frighten you. I am travelling with a group of cloned pokémon. We are trying to find a place we can live in peace. You are welcome to come with us._

So she had, after all, found someone who could help her survive out here, when she had no experience doing almost anything on her own. That was good, but at the same time she now could really think of having a whole life unlike everything she’d had before, and it scared her a little. 

_We should go to them now. I only came this close to the humans in order to find you._

Where were these other pokémon? How far was it? 

_I know it scares you, but it would be easiest to get there if you let me carry you._

She didn't like it, but she had made herself face hard things before. She told the creature it could take her. 

_I am called Mewtwo, and I am a ‘he’._

She vaguely knew the concept of using different words to refer to specific people, but she mostly hadn't paid attention to the exact ones they had used. She knew thought, that there was a certain combination of sounds they had always used when they wanted to talk to her, and if she thought hard she could bring it to mind. Maera. They'd called her Maera. And she only sort of knew what went into being a ‘he’ or a ‘she’, but she thought of herself as a ‘she’. 

_Then, come with me, Maera. Let me show you what it means to control your own destiny._

She didn't scream this time when Mewtwo lifted her up in the air, though she did shut her eyes at first. Eventually she scraped up the courage to open them. The ground passed by beneath her incredibly fast. She could see the difference when the thick trees and plants gave way to broad fields of grass. Then they jumped even higher in elevation to pass over a steep cliff. Up here there were fewer plants and more rocks. They travelled a little longer, to a place with a bit more greenery, then finally returned to the ground. Mewtwo walked forward, she followed him, and she soon began to see pokémon moving through the landscape toward them. A pikachu, a squirtle, others she had never before seen. She became somewhat nervous upon realizing she had never before been among so many living beings at one time. 

She lost her hesitancy, though, when she noticed that one of the pokémon pushing through the foliage was a bulbasaur, and behind it a much larger version of that pokémon that she had never seen before. She hadn't seen a bulbasaur in a very long time, but she loved that type of pokémon because they had the same types of leaves and vines on her back as she did. She rushed right over to them to say hello. They seemed quite friendly, actually. The big one introduced itself as venusaur. Actually, Mewtwo had said that she was part human and part pokémon. Could the pokémon part of her actually have been a bulbasaur? They were so much more like her than any other pokémon she'd met. 

She wondered briefly which of the humans she'd met she was the most like. Hopefully someone like the nice young man who had helped her escape. She hoped the stern lady didn't punish him too badly. 

Her hunger had only grown as time had passed. Mewtwo still intimidated her a little, but she felt comfortable asking the bulbasaur if it knew where there was any food. It excitedly led her over to a good sized pile of boulders, at the base of which was a collection of...something. It didn't look like any food she had ever eaten, although there hadn't been much variety to her meals. The bulbasaur scooped a few up into its mouth to show her it was good to eat. She knelt down and tried some for herself. There were green things and red things and purple things and brown things, from the size of her thumb to the size of her fist. True to the bulbasaur’s assurances, it all tasted quite delicious. Some were sweet and tart and juicy, some were crunchy and savory. She ate until she was comfortably full. Food, she had taken care of. 

She still felt chilly and wondered if there was a place she could go that was a bit warmer. Eventually she ended up as part of a pile of pokémon all curled up to sleep together. She never imagined she could experience something that felt so safe and comfortable. She dozed off to the unique breathing noises of a dozen different kinds of new friends. Mewtwo wasn't among them. He sat to the side and watched them, eyes still glowing as she fell asleep. 


	3. The Other Half

Over the next few days, she became accustomed to the routine this group of pokémon followed. During the day they travelled, moving at a slow, easy pace and gathering food as they went. The bulbasaur, and sometimes the others, taught her which things she saw were good to eat, which just tasted bad, and which would make her sick. 

Mewtwo, as their leader, scouted ahead and told them which direction to travel. Rough terrain was not an issue--the pokémon were allowed to walk on their own for the most part, but if they came across a place that would be hard to pass, Mewtwo carried them over. He tried to lead them to places where food and water were accessible. But most importantly, they never came anywhere near humans. They gave a wide berth to places where humans lived or even where they frequently traveled. She learned that Mewtwo didn't have a clear destination to lead them to; he only wanted a place that humans couldn't get to, where they would be safe. Seeing how much he disliked coming anywhere near humans, she appreciated even more the risk Mewtwo had taken to come and get her.

She became friends with all the pokémon in their group, though she was closer with some than with others. For instance, the enormous Gyarados that swam alongside them as they travelled would never have hurt her, but it didn't talk to her much, either. She and the bulbasaur were almost always together, however, foraging in the same places and sleeping curled up together in the same pile at night. She even talked to Mewtwo sometimes. When she talked to pokémon, her thoughts were more pokémon-like, concerned only with the time and place they were currently in. When she talked to Mewtwo, meshing their thoughts together, she found it easier to think about more complicated things--the future, the past, where they were going and what they might find there. She wondered if those were more human-like thoughts. Mewtwo was also a pokémon, not a human, though, wasn't he? How would she know if this was a part of her human side? 

Mewtwo didn't like humans. He thought they were dangerous. She had to admit, in her experience, and what Mewtwo had showed her of his, humans were capable of great cruelty. Still, did that mean they were all that way? Was that potential inside her as well? 

No pokémon had ever hurt her except when ordered by a human, but some were certainly friendlier than others, while some were grumpier or shier. Could humans be equally different? Could a human be her friend?

One day as she foraged, she ranged farther and farther from the main group, even from the friendly bulbasaur. She always saw just one more bright patch of berries just a little bit farther on. She vaguely recognized she was getting quite a distance away, but she felt certain she could find her way back.

She heard something in the distance that seemed familiar, like an old memory. The sound was intermittent, not constant, and she had difficulty telling the exact direction it came from. But hearing it made her feel...something. A lot of things. She did her best to get closer to it. She wanted to know what it was, and why she was suddenly scared and excited all at once. As she drew nearer, she recognized the sound. Something she hadn't heard since she started travelling with Mewtwo--a human voice.

She kept moving forward. Mewtwo wanted them to stay away from humans. She should be trying to keep her friends safe. If she kept going she might be seen. But--she didn't understand the words, but they sounded so nice. Friendly, encouraging. Less like the stern lady from her old life, more like her new pokémon friends, if they talked like humans.

She finally halted when she actually saw something moving among the trees far ahead of her. Whatever was out there was moving somewhat a an angle rather than directly toward her. If she hid herself in the right place, they might pass right in front of her. She just wanted to see who it was. She wouldn't be seen, she wouldn't attract the human’s attention. She wouldn't put her friends in danger.

The first thing she saw approaching were a pair of pokémon. One she recognized--a jolteon, all yellow and spiky. The one walking next to it she'd never seen before; it seemed to have a similar body type but was instead sleek and black. Following behind them came another pokémon new to her--almost human like in shape and size, but colored white and green, with dangerous looking blades on its arms.

Then she saw the human. It looked like a young woman, with really, really long brown hair, hanging past her knees. She carried a little white pokémon in her arms, and a dark purple one with shiny eyes walked beside her. Just over her shoulder, a huge yellow pokémon hovered. It seemed to be flying, but it was unlike any pidgy or hoothoot she had ever seen, its massive wings held straight out and its head extending from a long neck.

She didn't see any other humans in the procession as it passed by, but every so often the woman would say something to her pokémon. Little things, like for them to hurry up, or asking if they were all right.

She watched them go by, keeping very still and well hidden, until they had passed out of sight once again.

She sat in her hiding place and thought a while. The young woman had seemed so friendly with her pokémon. A lot like Maera and her friends. She wanted to see her again. She felt sad that she probably never would.

She looked up. It was starting to get dark. She stood up and started to walk back toward Mewtwo and the other pokémon. What should she do about all this? If Mewtwo knew there was a human in the area, even one, he would move the group in the opposite direction. There was already very little chance she would ever see that particular human again, she didn’t really intend to seek her out. But she didn’t want them to leave the area, either. She hadn’t realized until now, but she missed being around humans, and liked the idea of just knowing that even one was nearby.

If Mewtwo saw in her mind what she had seen, he would know about the human. She had never been very good at hiding her thoughts from him, nor did she usually want to. Could she somehow convince him not to move on just yet? She knew what he’d told her. Even one human could lead others to them, and they didn't know which ones would just want to hurt or use them.

Bulbasaur was the first pokémon to meet her as she returned. It told her it had missed her. She put thoughts of humans out of her head--

_ You saw humans? Where? _

She jumped guiltily. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep it from him. Grieving that her one contact with another human had been cut so short, she didn’t even try to resist or hold anything else back. She couldn't stop him from going as deep into her mind as he wanted, and while he usually respected her privacy, she knew he would do whatever was necessary to protect his band of pokémon and keep them hidden.

So she showed him in her mind approximately where she had gone, where she had seen the human and her pokémon pass. Could he understand, though, how disappointed she was, how much she wanted an outcome other than this?

_ We will discuss this when I return _

He rose into the air and sped off in the direction she had indicated to him. She continued on to where the other pokémon had gathered and listlessly added the food she had been able to find to the communal pile. Mewtwo hadn't seemed angry at her, at least. Just worried, like she knew he would be.

After far longer than she expected, Mewtwo returned. He landed right in front of her and immediately began speaking.

_ The human and her pokémon are camped not far from here. Are you certain she did not see you? _

She was fairly certain, unless the woman had noticed her but then intentionally concealed any visible reaction to her presence. None of the pokémon had responded to her presence either.

_ Very well. I observed her for some time. She does not seem hostile or dangerous, and appears to genuinely care about her pokémon companions. I believe we may continue to travel as I had planned and she can go on her way as well. Our paths will never cross. _

She felt hopeful even though she knew consciously that she had no reason to be. Just because they would be a little bit nearer that woman a little bit longer than she thought.

_ You still want to go see her, even after everything you know about humans. Everything you and I have been through. _

Did she really? Did Mewtwo know her thoughts better than she did now? Well, of course she would have liked to see the woman again. But she would never have put her friends in danger. She felt almost defensive. She would never betray Mewtwo and the other pokémon.

_ You come from both humans and pokémon. It is only natural that you wish to be in the company of both humans and pokémon. _

At least Mewtwo understood her desire, could help her understand it. It wasn't wrong to want to get to know that human better. She loved her friends more, though.

_ If you wanted, you could follow her. She wouldn’t be hard to find. But her presence here means more humans may be nearby. We must move on, and you may find it difficult to locate us again. _

He was making her choose between them? Between the human and the pokémon?

_ You have always had a choice. You just didn't recognize it. Think about it. You can make a decision in the morning. _

She curled up with the other sleeping pokémon, but stayed awake for most of the night, thoughts churning. Did this really make any sense? All of her happiest memories had been with Mewtwo and the pokémon. All her worst ones had been with humans. Why would she even want to be with one?

Then again, maybe that was why. She knew that nice, kind humans existed, but she hadn't really gotten to know one before. Now she had her chance. But she might never see her friends again. Could she really choose someone she had never met over them?

By morning, she had convinced herself that she could have it both ways. She would go to the human, see her just for a little while, a day at most, then come back. The group moved slowly and she'd gotten used to the patterns their path took; surely she would be able to find them again. And of course she would make sure not to lead that human or any other back to where they were.

_ Do not be dishonest with yourself. We will not wait for you. Your plan may indeed work, but you must be prepared for your decision to be final. _

She turned to face Mewtwo. She had decided that she needed to do this. Since she had run away from her first home and joined this group, she’d learned so many new things, had so many new experiences. She wanted to keep learning, keep experiencing. Mewtwo was right. She had a pokémon part and a human part. She wanted to know what humans were like. Good humans.

_ Very well. If you mean to meet the human, you may need this. _

Mewtwo lifted something off the ground with his powers. It hung between them in the air. It looked like a long, loose drape of cloth. At first it appeared to her to be light brown, but as she stepped forward and examined it more closely she realized it was composed of many different kinds of plant fibers as well as fur from every kind of pokémon that traveled with them. She grasped a fold of it in her hand. It felt soft.

_ Humans almost always cover themselves. This human may feel more comfortable if you are covered as well. _

With a bit of startlement, she realized he was right. When she first met Mewtwo, she had quickly discarded the thin cloth she had worn before and never thought of it again. Having the leaves on her back exposed to the air was so much more comfortable. But Mewtwo was right--before, she had only ever been allowed to be totally uncovered when she was alone in her room. When she was around humans, they wanted her covered, like they were.

_ That cloak will go over your leaves, unfortunately, but that may be to your advantage. Even the best humans will only tolerate so much difference. _

What did he mean by that? Was he saying the woman wouldn't like her if she knew she was part pokémon? But the woman was human, and obviously liked pokémon, so…

_ It’s not as simple as that. I'm sorry, but this is a part of being human that you will have to learn for yourself. _

She couldn't doubt now. She had decided to do this. She turned the cloak around and around until she could figure out how to put it on her body. It was simply made, with a hole for her head and two more for her arms. When she wore it it hung down to her knees.

_ There is a bit of all of us woven into that. When you wear it, in a way we will be with you. _

It was an uncharacteristically sentimental thing for Mewtwo to say. Had he woven it together himself? She ran her hands over its softness. She was grateful for it. 

Before she left, she took time to say goodbye to every pokémon in the group, even the ones she didn’t talk to much. If, as Mewtwo had warned, her plan didn't work the way she expected, and she never saw any of them again, she wanted to remember them all as well as she could.

She spent the most time saying goodbye to her good friend the bulbasaur. It brought again to her mind how much she did and didn’t have in common with pokémon and humans. She had a hard time explaining to bulbasaur that they might never see each other again. Bulbasaur was certain that they would. Well, maybe it was right. She had to have hope.

Surprisingly, when the time came to finally really leave, Mewtwo picked her up and flew her as close as he dared to where the human had camped, and pointed her in the direction she should go. He reminded her one more time that the group would be moving on without her, even told her what direction they would be heading that day, then flew off, leaving her there alone. It was clear he didn’t want to leave her behind, was giving her every chance to succeed, but her want for human company could not come before the safety of the group.

She began walking in the direction Mewtwo had indicated, keeping here ears open for sounds that would help guide her toward her goal. Before long, she heard that human voice again. Her heart leapt. She walked faster. She heard noises from the pokémon as well.

Just as she caught a glimpse of them through the bushes, she stopped, doubt assailing her again. What would she do when she got there? This human was a total stranger to her. She couldn’t even really speak to humans. How would she let the woman know she was friendly and just wanted to meet another human? She rubbed a fold of her robe between her fingers to calm herself. Mewtwo though this was a good idea, or at least not a bad one. He believed in her. She could do this.

She forced herself to walk forward as she tried not to imagine all the bad things that could happen. Just a few more steps. She could do this.

She emerged from the bushes into a little clearing. There was a little fire in the middle of it, carefully contained in a ring of rocks, and the human and her pokémon sat around it. They all looked at her in surprised when she entered, seven pairs of eyes fixed on her.

The human woman said something. She focused as hard as she could on the sounds, determined from this moment on to learn how human speech worked. The words didn’t sound angry, just curious. Okay. She knew this human was nice, at least she acted that way around her pokémon. Things were going good so far.

The woman seemed to expect some sort of answer from her, but when she didn’t get one, she merely continued on speaking. The woman patted a nearby rock, seeming to invite her to sit down. Hesitantly, she accepted the offer. One of the pokémon, the black one with four feet and a yellow ring pattern, walked over to her and put its head in her lap. She had come here to get to know a human, but she felt like she had done so much that scared her already, she needed to take a break and do something she was comfortable with. She started talking to the pokémon. It let her pet its head and scratch its ears as she did so. It was called umbreon. Like the jolteon, it had started life as an eevee, but became umbreon once it realized how comfortable it felt in the dark of night.

The human said something, sounding surprised. She looked over there, watching her body to get a better idea of what the woman was saying. She could talk to pokémon, was that what surprised her? This woman talked to her pokémon all the time, she’d seen it. What was the difference? She grimaced in frustration. She wanted to ask her, but she didn’t know how.

The woman seemed to realize that they weren’t communicating very well, and her speech slowed to a stop. Then she very deliberately put her hand on her chest, and repeated the same sound a couple of times. Maera focused as hard as she could, listening to the sounds and trying to remember exactly how they were made.

“Rachel.” That woman...was Rachel? She looked at Rachel, watching her mouth intently to see what it was doing. Then she took a deep breath and tried it for herself.

“Rrrrrray-chl.” Did she do it? Had she spoken like a human?

Rachel was smiling and nodding. She tried it again. “Rachel.” Cautiously, she put her hand on Rachel’s knee. “Rachel.”

From Rachel’s reaction, she seemed to be doing it right. Then Rachel did something new, extending a finger out toward her and forming her face into a look of pure inquisitiveness. Oh. Rachel had a name. She had a name. She didn’t use it much with Mewtwo and the other pokémon, but she remembered how the people in white coats had used it to get her attention when they wanted to speak to her. She worked the muscles in her face and mouth, trying to figure out how to make them produce the sounds she only dimly remembered.

“Mer…” No, that wasn’t right. “Mar…” Closer, but not quite. “Maera.” That was it. “Maera.”

“Maera, is that your name?” said Rachel. Maera nodded her head the way Rachel had. She found that the more she tried to understand the individual words, the more she listened, the easier it became.

“Maera,”

Rachel laughed for a second, then seemed to force herself to stop. “Sorry,” she said, then rattled off something else too quick for Maera to catch all of it. She heard “name” and “pokémon.” “Like a pokémon,” actually, that’s what she’d said.

Maera wanted to try that word next. She needed to be able to talk about things that were important to her. “Po...po...po…” This one had a lot of sounds. “Po mon. Pok mon.” Rachel was right, she was like a pokémon--she was part pokémon. Had Rachel noticed that yet? Mewtwo had said that humans didn’t always like people who were different. But she didn’t want to lie to Rachel right from the start. Humans might do that, but pokémon didn’t. Still, Rachel didn’t give any sign that she thought anything was wrong, so she let it be for now.

Rachel introduced her to the rest of her pokémon. Apparently, even they had names like humans. The big flying one was a latias named Bianca. The green and white one that stood like a human was a gallade named Blade. The little white one that loved to be held was a togepi named Riser. Up close she could see it actually had red and blue markings on it. The dark purple one with the shining eyes was a sableye named Jet. The jolteon was named Sparkler, and the umbreon was named Dusk. Maera didn’t know if she could remember all that, it all went by so fast. She would keep paying attention and try to learn, though.

Maera wanted to ask what Rachel was doing out here. Mewtwo had tried to lead his group of pokémon far away from human towns and well traveled routes. Rachel must have travelled a long way through the forest to get out here. But Maera didn’t know the words to ask her why.

As she contemplated how to communicate her question, Rachel nudged her and asked her another question, pointing to a metal container sitting near the fire. She had been lost in her own thoughts and not focusing on Rachel's words, and couldn't quite tell what she had been asking. She looked at Rachel, confused.

“Eat?” Rachel simplified her speech, seeming to catch on that Maera was still learning how to speak and understand human speech. “Food?”

Oh. Was there food in that container? She leaned forward and peered into it. There was some kind of tan mush with dark bits in it. She caught the smell of it, but didn’t recognize it. Maera wasn't particularly hungry, but she was curious, and she had come here to learn. She nodded her head. “Eat,” she repeated. That was an easy one. 

Rachel scooped some of the mush into a bowl and handed it to her. She said something else, once again too fast for Maera to really understand the individual words, but she sounded apologetic. There was a spoon in the bowl. The people in white coats used to encourage her to use forks and spoons and such, although when no one was looking she usually didn't bother. And of course the pokémon had never used any such thing. But if Rachel expected her to do things the human way, she would try. She lifted the spoon without too much awkwardness and gave the food and experimental taste. It was bland but slightly sweet. The dark bits were some sort of berry. She took a few more bites, just enough to satisfy her curiosity. She looked at Rachel. She wasn't sure how to use words to express her gratitude, so she settled for smiling widely at her.

Rachel smiled back as Maera handed back the bowl and spoon. “Did you like that?” asked Rachel, speaking slowly and deliberately again.”

Maera took a moment to analyze Rachel’s words, and another to figure out how to respond. “Like,” she repeated back.

“Good!” Rachel replied. Then she stood up, picked up the food pot, and offered some to her pokémon. A couple of them sniffed at it a little bit, and the Togepi, Riser, stuck its hand in and licked a bit of the mush off, but overall it didn't really seem to appeal to them. When Rachel was satisfied no one else wanted some, she scraped the rest onto the fire, causing it to mostly go out. Rachel looked at Bianca and only had to say her name expectantly, and the latias flew off, returning soon with a huge mouthful.of water to completely douse the fire. Rachel started putting things into a bag, then closed it and swung it up by a strap onto her shoulders.. It appeared that Rachel and her pokémon were getting ready to continue their journey.

“We’re going this way.” Rachel said, using her finger to point in a direction not completely opposite the way Mewtwo would be going, but close to it. “Want to come with us?”

Maera didn’t know what to do. She was learning so much. Rachel was just as kind and friendly as she had hoped. She didn’t want to leave yet, not at all. But if she went with them, every step she took would lead her away from Mewtwo and her friends. She turned and gazed for long moments back in the direction she knew they were right now. Then she caught herself and quickly turned the other way. Rachel was wonderful and nice, but Maera still didn’t want her to think there was any reason for her to go toward where her friends were. They needed to stay safely away from humans.

And Maera still didn’t know what Rachel was doing out here and where she was going. She did her best to ask the only way she knew how. She pointed in the direction Rachel had, set her face in a look as confused and inquiring as possible, and searched her mind for any words that might convey her meaning. “Going?” she tried finally.

“You mean, where am I going?” Rachel asked. If Maera had heard and understood her right, then yes, that was what she wanted to know. Maera nodded her head. “Here, let me show you.” said Rachel.

Rachel let down her bag and dug through it before pulling something out. She held it out to show Maera. It was a girl, or rather a flat paper with a picture of a girl, not Rachel but someone much younger. “That’s Sara,” said Rachel.

“Sara?”

“She was my friend.” Maera didn’t quite understand that word, spoken by a human, didn’t know if she’d heard it much before, and it apparently showed on her face. Rachel seemed surprised. “You know, friend?” She quirked her mouth in thought, then pointed to her pokémon. “Pokemon, friends.” She showed off her biggest smile. “Maera, friend?”

Oh. Friend. Someone you liked? Someone you travelled with? Someone who was nice to you? No wonder she didn’t know what humans called that. She didn’t have any human friends. Or did she?   
“Rachel, friend,” she agreed.

Rachel nodded with a grin. “Sara was my friend, too. But she...um. A pokémon… took her away.”

Maera frowned. Did she understand that right? Rachel’s friend had gone away with a pokémon. That was what Rachel was doing right now, right? Going with her pokémon, away from other humans? But Rachel seemed almost sad about what her friend did. Was Maera missing something? “Away?” She hoped Rachel could see she still didn’t understand.

“Yeah, by a...just a second, I’ll show you,” Rachel continued. She drew out of ehr pocket something hard and rectangular. Rachel pulled at it and it opened up in the middle. She tapped it, then held it toward Maera to show her something. One side glowed, and there was a picture there. Maybe some sort of pokémon? It looked like a big purple ball with a yellow cross in the middle of it, four long flat yellow-tipped arms hanging off the bottom. “Pokemon?” Maera asked.

“Yes, a pokémon. It’s called a drifblim,” Rachel told her. “It took Sara away, a long time ago. We’re looking for her.”

Maera thought she understood now, if she could imagine something so totally outside her experience. Sara hadn’t gone away with a drifblim. The drifblim had taken Sara even though Sara didn’t want to go. Maera had never heard of a pokémon doing something so cruel to anyone, at least not without a human ordering it to. Was there another human involved in this somehow? Or were there just pokémon out there who did things she would never expect? She hadn’t seen the whole world or met every pokémon in it. Quite the opposite, in fact. But Rachel was looking for her friend Sara. That seemed like a very nice thing to do for her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter marks the point at which this work became a collaboration with my daughter. Rachel and her pokemon team were created by her.


	4. A Day To Learn

Rachel, Maera and the pokémon walked in the direction Rachel led them for a while. Maera looked around. Did Rachel think Sara would be somewhere out here among the trees? Or were they headed somewhere she thought her friend might be? 

As they walked, Rachel explained that the thing she had used to show Maera the picture of the drifblim was called “pokedex”, and it contained pictures and other facts about all sorts of pokémon.  A device that knew all about different types of pokémon, even ones she had never seen before? It sounded fascinating. Rachel promised to show Maera more of how it worked the next time they took a rest. 

Rachel told her they were headed for a place called “Blackthorn City”, a name which Rachel had to repeat for Maera three or four times before she could even manage to make a mangled attempt to pronounce it herself. There were more humans in Blackthorn City, apparently. Many more humans. That made Maera both excited and scared all over again. She hoped Rachel would continue to help her learn about all the new human things she was sure to encounter once they got there.

The trees and plants thinned as they proceeded and the ground started angling downhill. Soon they were crossing a much rockier area where their path was occasionally extremely steep. The two four-footed pokémon seemed to manage alright, and Blade was nimble enough to keep his balance on the occasionally unstable rocks. Jet actually seemed more at home here than he had been back in the forest, jumping about from rock to rock with no hesitation. Rachel and Maera took turns carrying Riser. And of course, Bianca barely seemed to notice at all, though she did lend a wing occasionally when one of them needed a convenient handhold to steady themselves. Rachel saw that Maera had no protection for her feet--her own were well-covered in thick boots--and haltingly communicated a worry that Maera’s feet would be hurt. Maera did her best to reassure her friend. Walking every day with Mewtwo’s band had made her feet quite tough. 

The sun had reached its peak and began its descent down the other side of the sky almost before Maera had noticed. Once again, she glanced back the way they had come, wondering what those she had left behind were doing now. Did bulbasaur miss her? Did Mewtwo?

She heard what sounded like a roar off in the distance, and her head whipped around toward it.

“Did you hear something?” Rachel asked, looking in the same direction. Then the ground started to vibrate beneath their feet. It quickly grew from a small tremor to a shaking bad enough to make them throw their arms out for balance. She heard another roar. All the pokémon tensed, looking in the direction of the noise.

POUND POUND POUND POUND. The sound of footsteps, impossibly huge ones, drew rapidly nearer. Another roar echoed off the rocks, loud enough now to be deafening.

A large, green pokémon became visible over a nearby overhang seconds before it charged straight over the edge and landed with a terrifying CRACK right in front of them. Maera turned to run, but noticed that Rachel remained unmoved, her face set with determination. Her pokémon spread out in front of her, ready to defend her. Maera turned back to face the thing. If Rachel and her pokémon could stand up to it, so could she.

Up close, she saw the pokémon was not much taller than Rachel and herself, standing upright on two legs. But it had spikes sticking out all over its back and tail, sharp claws on both hands and feet, and four small but pointed fangs powered by massive jaws.

Rachel held Riser in one arm, but with the other hand she pulled out her pokedex flipped it open, and held it up to the unknown pokémon. “It's a tyranitar?” she shrieked. “Bianca, use--no, no wait, it's dark. Uh, Blade, focus blast!”

Blade stepped forward, held his hands slightly apart, and closed his eyes. A glowing ball of blue light grew until it filled the space between his hands, then he turn his hands palm out and the blue glow shot out toward the tyranitar, continuing to grow as it flew. It hit the tyranitar directly in the body, knocking it back a step and causing it to roar in pain. In response, the tyranitar charged forward with its mouth wide open. Blade tried to block its attack, but it just clamped its fangs down on Blade’s arm and bit, hard. Blade took the attack without crying out, and merely struck the tyranitar under the chin with its other arm, getting those jaws to open up just enough to get its arm free.

“That’s enough, Blade. Get behind me,” Rachel called out. Blade immediately jumped back out of the range of the tyranitar’s attacks. “Sparkler, use thunder!” Sparkler moved into the spot where Blade had stood and discharged a powerful jolt of electricity into the tyranitar. The tyranitar shook its head, momentarily stunned by the blast, then made a wild swipe with its claws that the jolteon easily dodged.

Maera was amazed at how well Rachel and her pokémon worked as a team. Rachel seemed to know exactly what her pokémon needed to do, and they responded quickly to her suggestions. No wonder she hadn’t been scared of the tyranitar. Working together, her team could easily defend themselves against it.

The tyranitar swiped again with the claws of its other hand and connected this time, knocking Sparkler to the side and causing her to yelp in pain. Rachel had Sparkler give the tyranitar one more good shock before pulling her back and sending in Bianca.

They may have outnumbered the Tyranitar, but it hit back hard and fiercely. Maera wanted to help. She couldn’t stand there letting Rachel’s pokémon friends get hurt for her. What could she do, though? Try to put it to sleep, was her first thought. But the last time she’d done that, to the human’s she’d escaped from, she’d been right up next to them, and she’d only been wearing her thin covering, not this heavy cloak. She wiggled her shoulders and started feeling for that itch in the middle of her back, then pulled her arms in through the holes and tossed the cloak off over her head. Rachel looked over to her in surprise. Well, if she didn’t like it, they could deal with it later, when there was no rampaging tyranitar right in front of them. 

Her movement attracted the tyranitar’s attention and it began stomping toward her, against Bianca’s furious protests. She wasn’t ready yet, couldn’t quite feel the powder ready to come out. She needed a few more seconds. She uncurled her vines and flicked the tyranitar with them, hoping to at least distract it. It was surprisingly effective, the tyranitar really seeming to dislike her touch. Finally, she felt ready to give it a dose of sleep powder. Wanting to make sure she didn’t miss, she ran right up to it before filling the air with little green flecks that rained down around them. The tyranitar didn’t go down right away. Maera backed up again quickly as it stumbled around, flailing its arms and tail looking for a target. Finally it crashed to the ground, fast asleep. 

Maera picked up her cloak once again, not wanting to lose a precious gift from Mewtwo and her friends, then looked at Rachel. Now was it all right to run away?

Rachel nodded and told them all, “Let’s go.” They proceeded down the rocky terrain quickly but carefully, Rachel and Maera and several of the pokémon glancing over their shoulders every so often to check that the tyranitar had not gotten up and followed them.

When they thought they had reached a safe distance away, they went on a little farther even than that, then found a good place to stop and rest. Rachel first checked her pokémon for injuries. She pulled out of her backpack a purple bottle that looked familiar to Maera. It was the same sort of healing spray the people in white coats had used on Maera. Rachel sprayed the wounds that Blade and Sparkler had gotten in the battle. “Sorry this is all I’ve got for now,” Rachel apologized to them. “Once we get to Blackthorn City, we’ll go to the pokémon center and Nurse Joy can get you all fixed up.” She spoke soothing words to all her pokémon and praised them for doing such a good job protecting her, Maera and each other.

Maera started to get nervous waiting for Rachel to say something about what she’d done. She stood off to the side, clutching her robe in front of her as Rachel tended to her pokémon, trying to maintain her trust in her new friend and not imagine all the terrible things that might be about to happen. If Rachel was going to react in some way, good or bad, she wanted to just get it over with.

After Rachel had even talked to little Riser and made sure he was not too scared, she finally came around and stood in front of Maera. “So...what happened back there? None of my pokémon know sleep powder. Was it...was it you?”

Maera didn’t know what else to do but nod her head. Even if she’d felt comfortable lying to her friend, what good would it do to deny it? What had happened, had happened. 

“That’s...wow. I don’t even…” Rachel seemed to not know what to say, which for her was surprising. “How? How do you do it?”

Not having the words to describe the experience of using that ability, Maera just did her best to awkwardly point at her back, where the powder came from. 

“Oh. Can...can I see?” Rachel asked. She spoke so uncertainly, so hesitantly. She didn’t seem angry or scared to be finding out what Maera really was, what she could really do. Maera turned around to reveal her back to Rachel, and heard her gasp.

“This is incredible! It’s almost like the leaves on a venusaur.” She leaned over so she could see Maera’s face again. “Do you mind if I touch them?” Maera nodded again, even before being surprised at the realization that Rachel had asked permission first. Among pokémon there was more of an unstated understanding of who did and didn’t want to be touched, and of course none of the white coats had ever asked before touching her. She didn’t mind giving Rachel permission, but it was nice to be given the chance to.

Rachel gently drew one of Maera’s leaves between her thumb and fingers. “Wow, there’s vines here too, and even a little flower.” A flower? Maera hadn’t known about that. But then, she couldn’t see her own back, or even touch it except with awkward stretching. Rachel put her hand right on the spot that always itched when she tried to use her sleep powder, and she instinctively arched her back and drew away.

“Sorry,” Rachel said, immediately moving her hand back as well. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Where are you from? Are there others like you?”

Rachel’s first question, where she was from,immediately made her think of Mewtwo and his band of pokémon and the place that she had left just that morning. She couldn't say anything about that. And she knew so few human words, she had no idea how to describe to Rachel the place she had first escaped from, with the people in white coats and the needles and the machines. But that other question, if there were others like her, she thought she could answer that one. She remembered what Mewtwo had said when he met her.

“No...like,” she said haltingly. She felt frustrated at how hard it was to learn human speech. “No...other.”

“Oh. You’re the only one?”

Maera nodded. Rachel looked at her sadly. “That must be hard.” She sighed. “You don't talk much. I wish I knew more about you.” Maera wished that too. For once, she even wished she could just put the information from her mind into Rachel’s, the way she could with Mewtwo. She wracked her imagination for some way to communicate what she wanted Rachel to know.

Rachel finished her exploration of the foliage on Maera’s back and took a step away. “So...um...you're not actually wearing anything under that. You can...uh...put your clothes back on if you want.”

Maera had been right in her assumption that humans, even nice ones like Rachel, just didn't like to see other humans-- or part-humans like Maera--without any clothes on. She slipped her cloak back over her head.

“Well, shall we keep going?” said Rachel cheerfully. They continued to descend down the rocks. As they went, Maera got Rachel to say the words for different things, and Maera practiced saying them herself. That afternoon, she mostly learned the words for things out in nature that they passed along the way--rock, grass, sky, cloud--and the names of a few wild pokémon that Maera had never seen before. They might not be so useful for telling the story of what life had been like in her room, but on the other hand, she was getting much better at making human speech sounds. There were quite a few different ones, but she could hear them more distinctly now as she noticed the same ones kept coming up over and over, and the more she tried the easier it became to get her own mouth to make them.

As the light began to get dimmer and redder, the ground flattened out and they saw more grass and bushes and even a few trees. Maera could hardly believe she’d already spent almost the whole day with Rachel. She would have to make a choice soon. If she left before dark, she could walk through the night, retrace her steps, and make it at least back to where she had left the group by dawn, assuming she could do all that in the dark without getting lost. 

Before it got completely dark, Rachel decided she had found a good place to stop and make camp for the night. Her pokémon helped to gather wood to make a fire and rocks to contain it. Maera helped by heading into the bushes for a while and returning with all sorts of edible things she had gathered from nearby plants. Rachel was delighted to see what Maera had found. She was able to teach Maera then that when a human is grateful to someone, they say “thank you”.

Maera was starting to wonder whether now was a good time to leave or whether she wanted to stay just a little longer. But she knew there was still at least one more thing she wanted to do. She finally had a plan for how she could tell Rachel a little bit about her life.

Once it looked like their camp had mostly been set up and Rachel had started something cooking over the fire, Maera motioned for her to sit down and tried to convey that she had something to tell her. First, she pointed in approximately the direction she thought she had originally come from, before she met Mewtwo. She had traveled with him for many days, so it was hard to remember exactly where it was, but she took her best guess. As she pointed, she told Rachel. “Come. Maera.”

“You...you want me to go over that direction with you?” Rachel guessed. Maera shook her head. She was already doing badly at this. 

“Was...was come,” Maera tried. Hadn’t Rachel used that word to describe things that had happened before now?

“Oh! That’s where you came from?” Maera grinned at her and nodded. Now she felt like she was succeeding. 

To tell the next part of her story, she asked Riser to help her. Riser was happy to--she often felt like she didn’t contribute as much to Rachel’s group as the other pokémon. Maera had Riser stand still in front of Rachel, then arranged some sticks from around the camp in a square around Riser. “Maera,” she said, pointing to Riser, hoping that the substitution she was making would be apparent to Rachel. “Maera in.”

“You were in...a box?” Rachel tried. Maera bit her lip. Not quite. She held her hands apart a little then spread them further. Something a little bigger.

“A room? A house?”

“Room.” That was the word she wanted. She wanted to tell Rachel what the room was like. They had gone over some color words on their walk, but not the one she wanted. She tapped one of the sticks representing the walls, then a part of Rachel’s clothing that most closely matched her walls. “Not red,” she managed, trying to say she was talking about color and not some other aspect of the clothing.

“The walls were white,” Rachel said, gaining confidence in being able to communicate with Maera. Maera nodded. She moved one hand from pointing to the stick, to the ground at Riser’s feet.

“The floor was white, too?” Maera nodded again. They were really getting somewhere now. She grabbed some more sticks and laid out a hallway and another room. Then she led Blade, Dusk, and Jet over to help as well. She pointed to each of them and labeled them “Human. Human. Human.”

“So there were other humans there with you.” Maera confirmed this. Then she had Blade bend down and take Riser by the hand and lead him down the “hallway” to the other “room”. She didn’t trust Blade to be able to do this next part right, so she took the part of one of the “humans” herself. She took a twig, pressed it against Riser’s little arm very carefully so as not to actually hurt her, and tried to act out what the humans had done to her with needles.

It took Rachel a while to get that one. “They stuck a needle in your arm! Like a blood draw?” Maera nodded. There had been blood sometimes. Then she tried to mimic the experience of being strapped down and put in a huge machine that made large noises. She didn’t think Rachel quite got that one, but she offered a sympathetic, “That doesn’t sound very fun,” anyway.

Next was the hardest part. She called Sparkler over and had her stand across from Riser, with at least her front paws in the “room” with him. Maera suddenly found herself sweating and slightly shaky. Her throat felt like it was closing up, making it even harder to speak. She pushed through it. She wanted Rachel to know what had happened to her.

She put a hand on Riser’s spikey little head. “Maera, stay,” she said. Then she took a deep breath. “Jolteon, thunder,” That was a hard word to pronounce in any case, but she did her best even as it conjured painful memories. Sparkler just blinked at her, recognizing she had not actually been commanded to attack by Rachel.

Rachel’s face looked focused in thought, then suddenly she gasped. “They… they made a pokémon attack you?” she whispered. “They made you stand still, and…?”

Maera dipped her head. She wasn’t there anymore, she’d escaped, there was no reason for her to feel like crying. She told Rachel, “Squirtle. Growlithe. Persian. Jolteon. Kadabra. Spinarak. Machop. Sandshrew. Oddish. Fearow.”

“That’s horrible!” Rachel exclaimed. “It’s like they wanted to try every type of attack they could on you. I’m so glad you escaped. How did you get away?”

Maera picked Riser up and placed her just outside the rooms made of sticks. She had Blade stand next to her again. Then she spread her fingers out above Riser’s head. “Sleep,” she said.

“So, you were outside, and you used sleep powder on them. What a good idea!” Maera didn’t know if she would be able to get across to Rachel that it hadn’t been her idea, but that kind young man’s. 

“Maera run,” she continued.

“Of course, you ran away while they were asleep.” Then Maera went over to a nearby tree and acted out climbing up it. “You climbed...you climbed a tree?” She had climbed over that wire barrier first but that seemed like an unimportant detail. She let Rachel know she had the right idea. “And...that’s how you ended up out in the wilderness?”

That was when she had met Mewtwo, but she couldn’t say that. She didn’t want to lie to Rachel, her first real human friend, but she had to be content with letting Rachel assume nothing else interesting had happened until they met.

Actually--there was one other thing. Mewtwo had thought that the symbol that the people who chased her had worn was important. It meant that the same group of people had made both of them. Maera gathered up a bunch of small rocks and arranged them in the shape of that symbol, as close as she could remember it. Then she tapped her chest with her palm, hoping to explain where she had seen it.

“That looks like the Team Aqua symbol,” said Rachel. Was that what Mewtwo had called it as well? She couldn’t remember, but it didn’t sound right--and of course, Mewtwo hadn’t even been using real, with sound, speech at the time anyway. “But what would they be doing in Johto--or even Kanto, if you say you came from the east,” Rachel continued. Her speech had once again become too complex for Maera to follow. She seemed to be talking more to herself.

Rachel pulled out her pokedex and used it to show Maera a picture. “Did it look like that, maybe?” she asked. Maera looked at the symbol. No, that wasn’t what she remembered. This was too curvy, she remembered more straight lines, and it hadn’t been pointy on the top either. She shook her head negatively.

“Okay. It would have been strange if that were true, anyway. Wait--Kanto! What about this?” She tapped on her pokedex for a moment and then showed Maera something new. That was more like what she remembered. Straight on the side and top, and extending out from there. She let Rachel know that was what she had seen.

“Team Rocket. And I thought they just stole pokémon--that was bad enough. Apparently they’re torturing poor pokémon...human...girls too. How awful.” She leaned over and pulled Maera into a hug. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. But don’t worry. I won’t let anything bad happen to any more. I’ll protect you. We all will.”

Maera pulled away from Rachel. “Thank you,” she said, but frowned. She was so very grateful to Rachel for everything they had done together, for this promise to keep her safe. But she couldn’t forget that every moment she stayed here, her other friends were getting further away. They may have stopped for the night by now, but if she didn’t catch up to them soon, she might never find them again.

Rachel could apparently see the worry on her face. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Maera could only shake her head. She couldn’t tell her. Mewtwo was right. She had a decision to make. She had to decide what she really wanted.

Maera stood up. She took both of Rachel’s hands in hers and squeezed them tightly. Did Rachel know, could she know, what this one day spent together had meant to her? “Blackthorn City,” she said, the name of their--of Rachel’s--destination still difficult to wrap her mouth around.

“That’s right,” Rachel said, hesitantly. Did she suspect what Maera was about to do? “We’ll easily make it there by tomorrow afternoon.”

Mara nodded to her, one last time. “Find Sara.”

“Well, we can hope, right?” She definitely knew something was not right.

Maera released her hands. “Maera go.” She started to walk away from the camp, then stopped and looked back. “Sorry.” Then she broke into a run, forcing her to ignore Rachel’s calls to her as they faded into the distance. 

In a way, she still hoped to have both worlds if she could. She didn’t want Mewtwo and her first group of friends to leave her behind, but she knew now where Rachel was going, and could maybe find her and her pokémon someday as well. And even if she didn’t, she had learned a lot of human language. She might be able to find other humans to talk to. She would still miss Rachel if she did, though.

The sun was just slipping out of sight as she left, with a big full moon rising on the other side of the sky, so she had plenty of light to see by as she went. She pushed on running far into the night, using the thought of seeing her friends again to keep herself going. She reached the place where they had descended down the rocks. Going up was much harder, took more time and energy, and this time she didn’t have Bianca and the other pokémon to help her, or Rachel to talk to along the way. They had taken a very easy pace on the way here, though, so if she worked harder, she might just be able to go back in about the same amount of time.

As she crossed the rocky area, she kept her eyes and ears open for that tyranitar they’d fought, or any other wild pokémon that might get in her way. She kept herself ready to put them to sleep if she thought she needed to. She passed a few bug pokémon, and a bird pokémon occasionally flew overhead, but she was mostly able to move through the landscape uninterrupted. As she continued to run, she felt hot under the cloak she still wore, even in the chill of the night. She took it off and draped it around her neck instead, still unwilling to part with it even if she had left her human friend behind.

By the time she returned to the approximate location she had first met Rachel, the sun was well on its way up over the horizon, and Maera was no longer running, nor even walking, but staggering. She had not slept since the night before last, and even that had been interrupted by her worries about leaving her friends. She couldn’t rest yet, though. She feared losing their trail if she waited to long, and that kept her upright.

To get to the point where she last left them, she then needed to retrace the path over which Mewtwo had carried her. She thought she could find her way, but it would be more difficult. They’d flown over this group of odd-looking trees, past this meadow. No, wait, this clearing was full of yellow flowers, she’d seen more flashes of red before, hadn’t she? Was she lost after all?

She thought she heard a familiar voice. She looked around, but couldn’t see where it was coming from. Was she so tired she had started to dream even while walking? She stood still, and the sound became louder and more distinct. It sounded like her friend the bulbasaur. She hurried toward the welcome sound in spite of her weariness. She pushed through another stretch of woodland, unable to see the source of the sound she sought. She called out herself, trying to let her friend know where she was.

As she exited thick trees and bushes onto a wide grassy plain, she finally spotted it--or rather, them. Charizard soared through the air above her, with bulbasaur clutched below in its claws and pikachu riding on its back. Maera waved her arm to get their attention. They cried out in return, and charizard circled to land.

Bulbasaur started charging toward her the instant its feet touched the ground, chattering at her all the while, sounding extremely upset. Maera knelt down to talk to it. She had to get it to slow down and repeat itself to get what it was saying, and she had never had trouble understanding a pokémon before. Although even when she thought she got the message, it was still pretty unbelieveable. Mewtwo was sick? Mewtwo needed help? That seemed impossible. She had never seen Mewtwo have trouble doing anything he wanted to, she couldn’t imagine him sick or hurt or needing help with anything. Bulbasaur told her that Mewtwo and the other pokémon were not far away, that the three of them, Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Pikachu, had gone looking for help, hoping they could find her.

Now that she was down on the ground, she found it extremely difficult to get back to her feet, she was so tired. With the help of her friends, she stumbled over to where they led her. After what would probably not have been a very long distance normally, but which seemed interminable in her exhaustion, she began seeing other pokémon in the group. They appeared to be forming a ring at some distance away from something. She walked to the center they were gathered around, and saw Mewtwo, lying in the grass, not moving. 

She dropped down beside him and laid her hands on his thin chest. He was still warm, his heart was beating, but his breathing sounded wrong, ragged and strained. She turned to bulbasaur and asked what had happened, but it couldn’t tell her much. Mewtwo had been out searching for a safe place for them to travel the next day, but when he returned, he had staggered and suddenly collapsed. Maera searched his body for any wounds or injuries but couldn’t see anything wrong.

All the pokémon had been waiting for her to return, to help them know what to do, but she had no more idea than they did. Hot tears began to flow down her face. Mewtwo had protected them. She never imagined anything bad could happen to him. And she was so tired. She draped herself over Mewtwo’s body and just lay there, holding him, wondering what to do, until her thoughts broke apart and she fell asleep.


	5. The City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to the Bulbapedia article on Johto Route 44, without which this chapter would never have gotten written.

When she woke again, her head was clearer. She looked up and saw that the sun was just about at its highest point in the sky. Hopefully that meant only part of the day had already passed. Mewtwo appeared to be much the same as he had been before--breathing, but obviously not well. She had been too tired when she arrived to examine him really thoroughly, so she gave him a good looking over now . But when she finished, she still couldn’t come to any conclusion as to what had happened. She wasn’t exactly an expert in sick or injured pokémon. The ones she travelled with had been fortunate enough on their journey to get along without more than some scrapes and bruises. She paced back and forth in the grass next to Mewtwo, wondering what she could do.

The easiest thing would be to wait. Just wait, and see what happened. But if what the pokémon had told her was right, Mewtwo had been down for almost a whole day by now, and nothing had changed. She had to assume that if she did nothing, Mewtwo’s state would only become worse.

She didn’t know how to help. The pokémon didn’t know how to help. If Mewtwo could talk to her, he might at least tell her what was wrong, but his mind had been completely silent since she got back. Who did that leave? Humans? She shied away from even the thought. The first rule of their group, pretty much the only rule, was stay away from humans. Humans were dangerous, or at the very least, unpredictable. They couldn’t be trusted.

But Mewtwo could be dying. There was a risk if they involved humans that terrible things could happen to him, but was that worse than being dead? She could maybe protect the other pokémon from discovery, but if she asked humans to help Mewtwo, then obviously they would know about him, and she didn’t know what they might do. She thought about the cruelties that had been inflicted on her before she escaped. Would she be willing to go back to that place if it were the only way to save her life? She didn’t know the answer to that one at first. The pain had been immense, and just thinking about it made her start to sweat. But she had escaped, hadn’t she? And so had Mewtwo, from the humans who had tried to use him. If they could do it once, they could do it again. This didn’t necessarily need to be a choice between pain and death. And if Mewtwo were dead, he couldn’t do anything.  
But what would Mewtwo want? If he had a choice, would he want to be helped by humans? She had a feeling he would refuse, at least to begin with. Had he ever had a human friend, though, like she had? Did he just not have any reason to trust humans?

Maybe, in the end, she just needed to be selfish. She didn’t want Mewtwo to die, and she was afraid that without a human’s help, there was a very real risk of that happening.   
She seemed to have made up her mind.

So next she had to figure out, what was the best way to get help? The only human she knew of personally was Rachel, who knew at least something about pokémon and, she thought, was trustworthy. Rachel had also mentioned a “Pokemon center” and a “Nurse Joy” in “Blackthorn City” that could help hurt pokémon. It would be quite a distance away, but she thought the best plan might be to head for Blackthorn City and find Rachel, or the pokémon center, or both, and see what help they could give. 

It would be faster to take Mewtwo there than to bring someone back here, but it would potentially expose him to more humans. She made a feeble attempt to lift Mewtwo herself, but he probably weighed more than she did and she was barely strong enough to shift him at all, much less carry him. As she tried, however, he uttered a soft noise, almost a moan but with no energy behind it. She backed off and considered what to do. Several of the pokémon here would probably be strong enough to carry him at least part of the way. She wanted to keep as many of them safe from humans as possible, though. 

Eventually she decided to take just one pokemon with her to help carry Mewtwo. She explained as well as she could in a way they would understand, what she intended to do, and asked if any of them would help her. If exposing themselves to humans was as dangerous as Mewtwo feared, she didn’t want to make any of them go unless they were truly willing to help.

Venusaur immediately volunteered to go with them. Good, she got along well with Venusaur and would be happy to have him along. With the help of a couple other pokemon, they loaded Mewtwo on to Venusaur’s back, trying to make both of them as comfortable as possible. Maera hesitated, but decided it would be safest to ask the rest of the group to stay and wait for them. She said goodbye, hoping that they would return soon with Mewtwo better and everything set right, and she and Venusaur headed back the way she had come.

By now, she was quite familiar with the path they followed. She found her way back to Rachel’s old campsite without difficulty. She looked up at the sky periodically, tracking the movement of the sun. She still felt tired and not fully recovered from her journey the day before, but she thought she could at least keep going until dark. As much as she wanted to hurry and get help for Mewtwo as soon as possible, they would need to rest at some point.

Venusaur couldn’t move as fast as she could even when he wasn’t carrying another pokemon, The rocky area slowed them even further, and they just made it back to the place where the trees started showing up again when it became dark enough and they became tired enough that she decided they would stop until morning. She chose an area as thick with plants as she could find, to hide them and protect them from any dangerous wild pokemon. She considered removing Mewtwo from Venusaur’s back, but when she consulted the pokemon, he agreed that she was not strong enough to either unload Mewtwo from off Venusaur’s back, or lift him back on when they were ready to move on. So Venusaur simply lay down with Mewtwo still on top of him and tried to get some rest.

The night passed free of any danger, though she heard plenty of wild pokemon in the distance. In the morning, they continued onward. The ground had leveled out somewhat and the going was easier for both of them. Just after the sun reached its peak, they found the spot where she and Rachel had camped. She had been following her own trail to some extent, but she felt relieved at this evidence that they were still going the right way. From now on, though, she would have to travel new territory on her own. She paused in the camp and looked around. Venusaur watched her and waited patiently. A few of Rachel’s footprints, and those of her pokemon, were still visible in the dirt. She could even see remnants of the rocks and twigs she’d used to help tell her story to Rachel.

She walked in a wide ring around the remains of Rachel’s fire, examining the plants and trees, trying to determine which way her friend had gone. She glanced up at the sun, double checking the direction they had come from. They had been going not exactly toward where the sun came up in the sky, but close. She had no reason to think Rachel wouldn’t have continued on that same direction in the morning. So she returned to the place they had approached from, patted Venusaur on the head to thank him for waiting so patiently, then crossed straight across the ashes and started examining the forest on the other side for any sign of Rachel’s passage.  
She didn’t have to look to long before she saw a likely looking patch of trampled undergrowth. She called to Venusaur to follow her, and hurried over to investigate. It certainly seemed like a human girl and her six pokemon--well five, Bianca flew-- might have walked through here.

The trail of footprints, bent branches, and flattened saplings was not hard to follow after that.Occasionally evidence of Rachel’s passing seemed to die out, but by carrying on a few steps in the same direction she always found it again. She darted back and forth, finding the next stretch of trail, then doubling back to check on Venusaur and Mewtwo. 

Mewtwo had hardly moved or made a sound since they left. Even his breathing had become more shallow. She hoped they were close to the city. Rachel had said it would take less than a day to get there from her camp. Would she and Venusaur be able to make it before they had to rest, or it got too dark? Mewtwo needed help as soon as possible.

Just as the sun reddened the horizon behind them, the path they followed began to grow rockier once more, while the surrounding vegetation dwindled to nothing. She left behind the last trace of Rachel’s presence she could find and took several steps out onto a broad flat plain of solid rock. How would she find which way they should go now?

She heard a noise carry on the quickly chilling air. She grew very still, and gestured to Venusaur to do likewise. After a few moments she heard it again. A human voice! More than one, if she could judge by the difference in tone and pitch. She hurried in the direction of the sound for a few steps, then stopped and glanced back at Venusaur. 

Now she had to make the decision she couldn’t go back on. Mewtwo didn’t want any humans to find him. If she had venusaur carry him toward those voices, he could be in danger--they all could be. She only took the risk to save his life. Was she ready to do it, knowing he might never forgive her?

She could investigate for herself before she made that choice, maybe. Find out if these humans seemed safe, or at least friendly. She led venusaur back a bit to where there were just enough trees and bushes to hide him and Mewtwo from view. Pokemon didn’t track time quite the way she and Mewtwo could, but she tried to let venusaur know she’d be back soon. She hoped that was true. 

She could still hear the human voices in the distance--three or more distinct ones, she thought. How many humans were out there, actually? As she neared, she realized the landscaped dropped down a ways not too far in front of her. She lowered herself into a crouch to be less visible to anyone looking this way, though the growing darkness should hide her well on its own. Over the edge of a steep drop, a large clearing came into view. She could see a few clumps of trees with wide swards of grass in between, a reflective surface or two that might be water, and a long, straight path she instantly recognized as something made by humans.

In fact, there were several humans down there, she could see them as they moved around. Some stood talking to each other, while others moved purposefully along the path in both directions. She felt her heart hammering. There were so many. Could she be sure none of them would try to hurt her?

Her only choices, though, were to go forward or turn back, and back might mean losing Mewtwo. She was not nearly ready to give up yet.

She slipped down the steep, rocky slope as quietly as she could, darting her gaze around to all the humans she could see as she went. Even in the dark, the humans could probably see her in return, she didn’t really have any cover to hide behind, so she wasn’t really trying to sneak up on them or remain undetected. But her instincts told her not to draw the attention of the humans, so she tried to stay low and quiet. Her heart jumped when loose gravel slid under her feet and a couple of the humans turned their heads at the noise. They must have seen her, but they simply returned to their conversation and did not react any further to her presence.

Finally she felt cool grass under her feet. There was indeed a pool of water down here, showing the stars and the half-full moon in its rippling surface. She examined each of the humans within sight of where she stood. If she were brave enough and could remember how to speak the human language well enough, she could ask one of them where she needed to go next. She just needed to decide which one of them would be safest to approach. Someone alone, or a pair or group? A man, or a woman?

She decided eventually to approach one of the women nearest to where she stood. She had no way of knowing really, but something about her seemed kind. She looked a little like Rachel, maybe. She had an small unfamiliar but friendly-looking pokemon standing next to her. Maybe that was a good sign.

She walked right up to the woman, the tension in her body rising as she forced herself to take each step. She couldn’t make herself look the woman in the face, though, keeping her gaze pinned on her pokemon companion. But when she arrived, her throat froze and the knowledge of how to make the sounds for what she needed to say fled completely from her mind.

She stood there, only able to flick her eyes nervously up at the woman, until the woman finally said, “Um, hello. Is--did you need something?”

She took a deep breath. Blackthorn City. That’s all she needed to say. Hopefully the woman would understand. “B--bl--” Another breath. She could do this. She had to. “Blackthorn City?” She’d mushed the words terribly in her mouth. She hoped the woman understood her.

“Oh-- I’m sorry-- did you-- um…” The woman seemed--uncomfortable? Oh no, had she frightened her? Maera took a step back. 

She needed more words. She had to make the woman understand. “Blackthorn city-- where?” she managed.

“Oh! You want… directions?” The woman didn’t seem any less nervous, but they were communicating, at least.

Maera nodded her head.

“Well, it’s not very far from here, actually. Keep following Route 44 east until you get to the Ice Cave,” she gestured with her hand to show the direction. “Go through it and Blackthorn City is just on the other side.”

They were close! Maera could see the entrance to a cave from where she stood. She could be in Blackthorn City getting Mewtwo the help he needed by later tonight. “Thank you!” she told the woman, then turned and ran back the way she’d come, finding new energy in the hope she felt.

Getting back up the steep slope was a bit trickier than coming down had been. She didn’t know how or if Venusaur would be able to cross it, especially carrying Mewtwo. Actually, as she crossed the remaining distance back to her friends, she wondered if she should bring them into the city at all. They were close enough now that she could bring help to Mewtwo instead, without taking too much more time, and with less danger from humans.

By the time she reached them, she’d decided. She explained to Venusaur that he should wait some more, that she would be back before sunrise. If all went well, that would be true. If not, if this all turned out to be the wrong choice, she would be the first to pay for her mistakes. Unfortunately, she didn’t think Venusaur would be able to make it back to the group if she failed to return. Well then, she would just have to succeed.

She looked Mewtwo over one more time before she left. Still completely unresponsive. He breathed and his heart beat, but nothing else good could be said about his condition. I’m going to get you help, she thought at him as forcefully as she could, not knowing if he heard her.

She hurried back down the slope and toward the path, wanting to be away from Venusaur and Mewtwo for as little time as possible. She tried to keep some distance between herself and the other humans as she trotted down the path toward what the woman had called the Ice Cave. Ice--that was cold, right? It was already getting cold here now that the sun had set. Her cloak still kept her warm, but she didn’t like it when her feet started to go numb. She hoped the cave would not be too hard to pass through. She didn’t need any more reason to hurry.

When she reached it, she found that the cave was, indeed, covered floor to ceiling in ice. And it wasn’t just cold, it was slippery as well. After only a little while she lost all feeling in her toes. If she didn’t place her feet carefully with every step, they threatened to fly right out from under her. A little cloud formed every time she breathed out, and she started to lose sensation in her fingers and nose as well. She kept moving forward as quickly as the ice would allow and tried to ignore her discomfort. There seemed to be only one path here, and she didn’t think she could get lost, but she was still glad to see someone pass by her every so often. She was still making her way to the city.

Finally, the exit out of the cave came into sight. When the ice on the ground finally gave way to rocks and sparse clumps of grass, she spared a moment to sit down and rub some feeling back into her feet. She gritted her teeth as numbness changed to burning, but continued to warm her feet with her hands until she felt ready to walk again.

It was fully dark outside, but the city in front of her shone almost as bright as day with lights lining every street. As she walked into the city, she stared just at the number of humans walking by, more by far than she had ever seen in her life. Some smiled, some scowled, though none seemed to more than glance at her, thankfully. And accompanying the people were pokemon of every size and type. Tall buildings rose up on all sides as she moved deeper into the city. 

Rachel had said there was a place that hurt pokemon could be healed. What was it called? All of a sudden, she couldn’t remember the words. She looked around, but there were so many buildings, and she couldn’t see one that looked like what she was searching for, if she even knew what to look for. Should she ask someone? Pick yet another stranger to talk to? People passed her on either side as she tried to decide what to do.

Her heart started to pound. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. There were so many people Not all of them would be as nice as Rachel, or even the woman she had talked to tonight. Surely some of them, out of all those out here right now, would be as cruel as those she had run from. How could she be safe? How could she even have considered bringing Mewtwo here? How could she ever hope to find the help she needed. She felt tears forming in her eyes. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t meant to be among humans, not like this. She needed to get away. She needed to hide. She needed to think.

She slipped into a narrow space between two buildings where the bright lights didn’t reach. She leaned her back against one of the walls and forced herself to take a few deep, shuddering breaths. Mewtwo needed her to do this. If she picked wrong, and the person she talked to tried to hurt her, she had ways to defend herself. She could run away, or put them to sleep. If someone else on the street saw her getting hurt, they might be nice enough to want to help her. After all, she liked to think that’s what she would do.

She crept back out to the corner of the building where her little alley met the street full of humans passing by. There was a place here for hurt pokemon to get help, Rachel had said so, she just needed help finding it. She watched the people walking along the street, looking for one that she thought might be kind enough to help her. Maybe someone who had a pokemon with them, that might be a sign that they knew where she should go.

She spotted a young man with a bulbasaur walking next to him. She liked bulbasaurs, this could work. Before she could second-guess herself, she forced her feet into motion and stepped right out in front of him, forcing him to stop short. She hadn’t planned what she would say, and she stood silent for a few moments. “Pokemon, help!” she blurted.

“What? I’m sorry, I didn’t-- What did you say?” the young man stammered.

She tried to place her words more carefully. “Pokemon...hurt. Help,” she repeated.

“Oh, um. If your pokemon is hurt, you should probably go to the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy can help them.”

Pokemon Center. That was the word Rachel had said that she could’t remember. “Pokemon center,” she agreed. But where was it? She looked up and down the street. “Pokemon Center?”

“It’s just down the street,” The young man pointed behind her, in the direction he had been walking. She turned to look. “You see that big red building? That’s it, okay?”

She turned to him and nodded. As she started to head in that direction, the bulbasaur said goodbye to her. She turned back, smiled and said goodbye back, then hurried off, the distinctive red building fixed in her sight.

Having a clear destination at last, she sped up until she was running nearly as fast as she could, pushing past person after person as she went. When she reached the Pokemon Center, the doors opened in front of her as she approached. She didn’t stop until she stood in front of a smiling, red-haired woman in a white outfit standing behind a waist high counter.

“Pokemon hurt,” she told the woman.

“That’s what I’m here for!” the woman replied cheerfully. “Welcome to the Blackthorne City Pokemon Center. I’m Nurse Joy. If you’ll just give me your pokeball, I’ll get your pokemon fixed right up!

Maera chewed her lip as she contemplated. “No…” she said as she tried to figure out how to explain. She pointed back outside. “Pokemon...away.”

“Oh, it’s outside? Are you sure you can’t get it into a pokeball? It would make things much easier.”

“No. Can’t,” Maera started feeling anxious all over again. Was she doing this wrong? Would she need to bring Mewtwo into the city after all? 

“Well, if you’re sure, I guess we’ll just have to go out and see it.” Nurse Joy didn’t really seem upset. Was this going to work? 

Nurse Joy turned away briefly. “Chansey, could you watch the Pokemon Center for a bit while I go help a hurt pokemon?” A big, pink pokemon came out of a doorway off to the side. It assured her that it would take care of everything while she was gone. 

Nurse Joy picked up a large bag and began placing things into it, some of which Maera recognized as medicine. “What kind of pokemon is it that needs help?” Nurse Joy asked as she worked. 

Mara’s words caught in her throat again. The thought of naming him to this woman reminded her that she was getting closer and closer to doing something she couldn’t take back--revealing her friend to a human without his permission. 

She still knew what her decision had to be, though. “Mewtwo,” she responded.

Nurse Joy stopped and looked at her. “Mew...two, did you say? I’m not familiar with any pokémon like that. Is it very rare?”

Maera just shrugged, then nodded. 

Nurse Joy didn’t question her any further, though. “All right! Show me the way,” she said.

When they walked out of the doors of the Pokemon Center, Maera had to stop suddenly as a little togepi zoomed past right in front of her. Further down the street, she heard a familiar voice shout, “Racer, come back!”

Maera whipped her head in that direction. Rachel!

**Author's Note:**

> This story is most of the way written already, and I will post new chapters as I get them edited.


End file.
